Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: The Bishop's Wife (1947)

 

One of the best Christmas movies ever made. 

This film has a storyline that is simply hard to resist. Around Christmas time a bishop (David Niven) is spending all his time focusing on building a new church. The stress and overwork are making him increasingly unhappy and distant from his beautiful wife (Loretta Young). In a time of desperation, he says a prayer for guidance and an angel (Cary Grant) appears to help him. However, when the angel makes his wife the happiest, she has been in a while, he starts to suspect the angel is trying to steal her away from him.

This film did not come about easily. The original director was William A. Seiter, who my fellow Laurel and Hardy fans might know as the director of the classic Sons of the Desert (1933). However Samuel Goldwyn did not like how the film was progressing and replaced him with Harry Koster as the director. The angel was originally going to be played by David Niven, and the Bishop by Dana Andrews, and Tersea Wright as the wife. However Tersea Wright had to leave due to pregnancy. The wife was to be played now by Loretta Young. However she was under contract to RKO. Dana Andrews was traded to RKO in order for MGM to get Young. The Bishop part was given to Cary Grant. However it was discovered that Grant would work better as the angel, so Niven and Grant traded roles. On top of all this the preview did not go well. Goldwyn was unhappy with Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E. Sherwood's script, so Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were hired to refine the script, both without receiving credit. The film did well with critics, but less so with an audience. Because of this the title was temporary changed to Cary and the Bishop's Wife. Adding Cary Grant's first name to the title somehow did increase the box office results somewhat.

Even with all those issues to overcome, this turned out to be a near perfect movie. Everything in this film works near perfectly. The fantasy element is wonderful and this whole movie comes off as a wonderful Christmas themed fairy tale. The film only gets more magical as the more times you watch it. The romance is simply wonderful. This may be one of the most touching romances in movie history. The chemistry between all three leads is fantastic and there is never a single scene about the romance where it is not 100% believable. The humor is delightful. While the film may not always be laugh out loud funny, it does always keep a smile firmly on your face. There are also a few really good laugh out loud moments. What really makes the movie work though is the little moments that are simply charming. There is such a sweet an irresistible charm to scenes like the ice-skating scene and the choir scene, that gives one that heartwarming Christmas feeling. 

This is a film that always gives me a great feeling of joy every time I watch it. 

Overlooked Classics: Platinum Blonde (1931)

 I have said a few times that one of my favorite things about watching old movies is finding these great gems that are heavily overlooked today but happen to be just as great as any of those that have gone down in history as classics. Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde very easily fits in this category. This film is just as funny, smart and simply fun to watch as many of the later Capra classics.

One should remember at this time; Frank Capra wasn't the household name he would become. Capra's big breakthrough film would be released three years later with the surprise smash hit, It Happened One Night (1934). Frank Capra had made his feature length directorial debut directing Harry Langdon in the great silent comedy The Strong Man (1926) and continued to direct many features before It Happened One Night. 

This film however was not originally intended for Capra though. It was originally intended for Edward Buzzell, who is probably best remembered for directing the Marx Brothers in At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940), as well as The Song of the Thin Man (1947). By the time Frank Capra joined the production Dorothy Howell, Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin's script was nearly finished. Capra would later write off this film, but it has also been speculated that this was because he had so little to do with it. This was however still the first time Robert Rimskin and Frank Capra would work on the same film. This turned into a good relationship as he also was a writer for It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Meet John Doe (1941).  

Despite such well-known names as Jean Harlow and Loretta Young appearing in this film's cast the real star of the movie is Robert Williams. Despite much talent his career would never take off because of his sudden death shortly after this film's release (he had appendicitis). He only appeared in 6 other known films in his career, The Vengeance of Winoma (1914), Thoughtless Women (1920), Two Masters (1928), The Common Law (1931), Rebound (1931), and Devotion (1931). As you can tell from these years even with a appearances in silent films, his film career was really just beginning to become a regular job in 1931. This will seem unfortunate to many movie fans as he does a great performance here. Jean Harlow was not that big of star as she would later become. She did have some great performances in big name films such as Hell's Angels (1930) and The Public Enemy (1931), but she was mostly cast due to her looks and had a while to go before becoming a big star. However, she certainty was on her way. This film contains an amazingly good performance from her. Despite how good she was in this film though Frank Capra did have problems with her. The main one being she couldn't pronounce "library" right, and she was playing a high society woman. It took fifteen takes for her to say this word right. This film is also rounded out with many other great actors of the time. One who does an especially good job is Walter Catlett (my fellow Disney lovers may know him as the voice of Honest John in Pinocchio (1940)). Also, great here is Halliwell Hobbes as the butler, and Lousie Closser Hale as the snobbish mother. In fact, the whole cast is just great.

The story centers around a young reporter, with a quick wit and just as quick of a mouth, named Stew (played by Robert Williams). This young reporter works with a young woman named Gallagher (played by Loretta Young), who has more than a bit of a crush on Stew. However, during a story, he falls for a rich young socialite named Ann (played by Jean Harlow). He marries Ann. However, this marriage isn't quite happy for him. Ann tries to make Stew fit into high society and a reporter for a rival newspaper (played by Walter Catlett) makes fun of him for not wearing the pants and for being a bird in a gilded cage. A bird in a gilded cage is exactly what Stew feels like, and he needs to find some way out.

This movie is extremely funny, as well as having a delightful story. Much of the humor comes from the clever dialogue that populated many Hollywood comedies of the early 1930's ("Anne Schuyler's in the blue book; you're not even in the phone book. Think that one over... sucker!", "Yeah, I know those bluenoses. Their ancestors refused to come over on the Mayflower because they didn't want to rub elbows with the tourists... so they swam over!"), and is just as funny, smart and unlike anything you hear in today's movies as you could ever want it to be. As stated, before all the cast gave great performances. As well as all this the film just supplies the great sense of pure fun, and charming simplicity that we all know and love Frank Capra for doing.

After an early preview screening the film shortly switched its name to The Gilded Cage. However, it was changed back to Platinum Blonde on September 24, 1931, when it had its last preview showing because of Jean Harlow becoming a bit of a bigger star due to Public Enemy.

The film received decent reviews, but they were far from great.


Resources Used
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/platinum-blonde-1931
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3747/Platinum-Blonde/articles.html